Salam, dear readers...
Ha..Sebut-sebut pasal felt ni, korang tau tak sejarahnya?? Klu ada yang masih tak kenal apa itu 'felt'...kat bawah ni ada la sedikit info yang Sue cari dalam internet..huhu
(copy paste jer) Jangan ada yang marah plak yek...
Selamat membaca semua!!
*** Craft Felt Fabric
Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woollen fibres or synthetic fibers. Durable, versatile and easy to work with, few other materials are as popular as felt fabric. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can be of any colour, and made into any shape or size, and since it's widely used as a craft fabric, a base fabric and a backing fabric, you're likely to find black felt, green felt -if not hot pink felt fabric(!) in almost every home.
Here is some selection of felt colours, a total of 23 different Colours:
· baby blue, dark blue, soft purple/lilac, purple, maroon,
· pastel pink, shocking pink, chili red, bright orange, light orange,
· beige, tan, off-white, white, yellow, turquoise, bright fluorescent green,
· kiwi green, green, gold, brown, dark brown, grey, black
Many cultures have legends as to the origins of feltmaking. Sumerian legend claims that the secret of feltmaking was discovered by Urnamman of Lagash. The story of Saint Clement and Saint Christopher relates that while fleeing from persecution, the men packed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters. At the end of their journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks. Feltmaking is still practised by nomadic peoples in Central Asia and northern parts of East Asia, where rugs, tents and clothing are regularly made. Some of these are traditional items, such as the classic yurt, while others are designed for the tourist market, such as decorated slippers. In the Western world, felt is widely used as a medium for expression in textile art as well as design, where it has significance as an ecological textile.
Felting probably got started in Central Asia or West Asia, about 6000BC, soon after people started to keep tame sheep and breed the sheep to grow wool.
You make felt by beating wool together until it all knots up and all the little fibers gettangled up with each other. It's faster and easier to make a big piece of felt than to spin
wool and then weave it into a blanket, and the result is thicker and warmer than a woven blanket, too. To roll the wool, people took wads of raw wool and got it wet and then rubbed it back and forth until the fibers were all meshed with each other.
Mongolians and other Central Asian people sometimes made felt by rolling up wool inside leather skins and having a horse drag the roll around until it was felted. You can see that in this movie.
Felt was good at keeping people warm and dry in cold weather, especially when knitting hadn't been invented, so there were no sweaters or knitted socks. Soon people all over Asia and Europe used felt. Roman soldiers used felt pads as armored vests, felt tunics, felt boots, and felt socks. By about 500 AD, the Vikings, further north, made felt blankets too.
In Central Asia, where there weren't enough trees to build out of wood, the Mongols used felt for the walls of their houses, called yurts or gers. People also made felt rugs and blankets.
Wet felting
Felt is made by a process called wet felting, where the natural wool fibre is stimulated by friction and lubricated by moisture (usually soapy water), and the fibres move at a 90 degree angle towards the friction source and then away again, in effect making little "tacking" stitches. Only 5% of the fibres are active at any one moment, but the process is continual, and so different 'sets' of fibres become activated and then deactivated in the continual process.
This "wet" process uses the inherent nature of wool and other animal hairs, because the hairs have scales on them which are directional. The hairs also have kinks in them, and this combination of scales (like the structure of a pine cone) is what reacts to the stimulation of friction and causes the phenomenon of felting. It tends to work well with woolen fibres, as their scales, when aggravated, bond together to form a cloth.
Cheaper felt is usually artificial. Artificial felt, if made using the wet method, has a minimum of 30% of wool fibres combined with other artificial fibres. This is the minimum required to hold a fabric together with the fibres alone. It would be difficult to achieve a stable fabric by hand at this ratio. All other wholly artificial felts are actually needle-felts.
An alternative way of creating felt is to have a steam roller go over the unwoven fabrics in a shallow pool of water with the cloths rotating as the steam roller goes over it. This method is widely used in small towns in India where mass manufacturing of clothing is done.
Needle Felt
Needle felting is a popular fibre arts craft conducted without the use of water. Special barbed felting needles that are used in industrial felting machines are used by the artist as a sculpting tool. Using a single needle or a small group of needles (2-5) in a hand-held tool, these needles are used to sculpt the wool fibre. The barbs catch the scales on the fibre and push them through the layers of wool, tangling them and binding them together, much like the wet felting process. Fine details can be achieved using this technique, and it is popular for 2D and 3D felted work.
Eco Felt Fabrics & Collections
Kunin fabrics are made from Eco-fi, 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. There are many types of felt fabrics produced by Kunin, such as :
Rainbow Classicfelt™ - Comes in an array of vibrant colors, and is a staple in crafter's supplies.
Rainbow Classicfelt™ - Comes in an array of vibrant colors, and is a staple in crafter's supplies.
FEATURES:
· Machine wash and dry
· Fade-resistant
· Cuts cleanly with no fraying
· Can sew and glue easily
Plush felt™ - A soft and furry fabric perfect for apparel, stuffed animals, costumes, and much more.
- 100% machine washable and dryable polyester
- Becomes softer with each wash
- Will not unravel or fray
- Six fade-resistant colors
- Available in 45" x 10 yd. bolts
Glitter felt™ - Especially great for holiday crafts, and anything else needing a festive shimmer. Glitter felt has glitter added to the fabric.
- Machine wash and dry
- Fade-resistant
- Cuts cleanly with no fraying
- Can sew and glue easily
- Fade-resistant
- Cuts cleanly with no fraying
- Can sew and glue easily
- 72” x 10 yards (183 cm x 9 m) bolts
- 24 piece SINGLE color piece pack of 9” X 12” (23 cm x 31 cm) craft cuts, UPC coded
Embossed felt - A collection of premium fashion fabrics that come in an array of trendy patterns and colors.
Stick'rz felt™ - Adhesive-backed felt pieces, made of stiffened Friendly Felt™.
Friendlyfelt™ - A stiffened felt that easily cuts into shapes. Use it to create knock-out banners and endless craft creations.
Glitter Friendlyfelt™ - A stiffened felt that easily cuts into shapes. Use it to create knock-out banners and endless craft creations.
Prestofelt™ - Adhesive-backed felt pieces, made of Rainbow Classicfelt™ .
Prestofelt™ - Adhesive-backed felt pieces, made of Rainbow Classicfelt™ .
***Info copied from : From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; The KuninTM Group; and Kidipede : History for Kids (Hehe)
